“Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy. Or else we may find ourselves treading on people’s dreams. more serious still, we may forget that God was there before our arrival.” -Max Warren

Culture has been aptly compared to an iceberg. Just as an iceberg has a visible section above the waterline and a larger, invisible section below the water line, culture has both aspects. The part of culture that is visible (observable behavior) is only a small part of a much bigger whole. It’s important to keep in mind during our short immersion experience that we will just catch a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg and that there will be much we do not understand.

Some things to keep in mind when encountering another cultural system (Dayton University)

Be wary of casual stereotypes and careless ethnic jokes.
Such remarks usually say more about the speaker than the target population. They are easy ways of avoiding dialogue and complexity, while falsely appearing to know something about the local society. As a result they reify imagined characteristics about the target population in ways that are difficult to challenge.

Educate yourself and your group about the country you are visiting.
Read and ask about the country’s history, current beliefs, language(s), religious affiliations, and social structures in general.

Engage in open dialogue and discussion.
Talk to people, learn their views, find your commonalities, negotiate compromises, alter your own thinking, and recognize that each of your heritages, histories, cultural and social systems needs to be acknowledged in order to move forward together.

Recognize and consciously look for the complexity of culture.
Train your eyes to look for variations, choices, and points of change in other cultural systems. When you travel, overcome the tendency to miss the details and to see everything as the same. Recognize the same complexity in other social and cultural systems as you do for your own country.

Develop relativistic understandings of the actions and beliefs you encounter.
View them in terms of their own context: History, political and economic circumstances, systems of logic and belief, the functional effects of various beliefs and behaviors, and relationships to other cultural systems.

Be wary of statements that ethnic or national conflicts are due simply to religious differences or longstanding cultural character traits.
It is never this simple. Robust, contextual explanations recognize the historical inequities, external interference, and changing political and economic conditions that are nearly always operating as well. In such situations, groups may coalesce around religion or similar factors, but this does not mean economic and political forces are not at work, too.

Go beneath the surface of essentialist depictions of culture.
Consider which of many motivations is behind them: A heartfelt proclamation of ethnic identity; a convenient shorthand to avoid dealing with cultural complexity, an attempt to elevate some versions of a culture over others, unthinking repetition of stereotypes (including self-stereotypes), an accurate depiction of the longevity of certain cultural features; and so forth. Don’t just take these statements at face value.

Know yourself.
Examine your own position and actions from multiple perspectives; recognize the mutual interdependence of societies in the contemporary world; confront issues of privilege and equity; accept responsibility for your actions; consider what you value about your background and learn how to communicate this.

Be ready to change your mind and learn something new.
Mentally get yourself ready for surprises, new information, new ways of thinking. Limber up your brain so that you can learn from new situations and new ideas.

Approach your interaction with others with a spirit of reciprocity.
Expect to learn as much as you teach, to receive as well as give. Be careful not to present yourself as knowing more about all things, even if you do know more about some things. Recognize and seek out what others have to teach you.

What is Reverse Culture Shock?

Reverse culture shock, or re-entry, is simply a common reaction to returning home from an immersion experience. It is an emotional and psychological stage of re-adjustment, similar to your initial adjustment to being immersed. Symptoms can range from feeling like no one understands you or how you’ve changed to feeling panicked that you will lose part of your identity if you don’t find connections to your experience. Your reactions to re-entry may vary, but common signs are:

• Restlessness
• Rootlessness
• Boredom
• Depression
• Uncertainty
• Confusion
• Isolation
• Wanting to be alone
• “Reverse homesickness”

This process could be similar to the culture shock you may have experienced when you first arrived, only in reverse. Just as it took time to adjust to a different culture when you arrived there, it may take some time to re-adjust to home. The coping skills and strategies that were successful in helping you to adjust to your host culture will be just as helpful coming home. Above all remember that you are not alone in this process of re-entry and do not hesitate to reach out to your immersion community.